Kapur ends tied fourth at Panasonic Open

Indian golfer Shiv Kapur ended a shared fourth after shooting a 67 here Sunday at the Asia Pacific Panasonic Open.

Filipino Juvic Pagunsan shared the position with Kapur after the former shot a 71 at the US $1.9 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.

Asian Tour rookie Masanori Kobayashi produced a magical front nine to win the tournament on home soil by one shot.

Kobayashi matched the second best nine hole score of seven under par 28 on the Asian Tour for nine under par 62 and a winning total of 17 under par 267 at the Higashi Hirono Golf Club. Koumei Oda closed with 67 for second.

Kapur played with Kobayashi and rode on the momentum as he claimed his third top-five finish on the Asian Tour with a round of five birdies and one blemish.

“We were trying to match each other shot for shot. He kind of got hot in the middle and ran away from me. My personal goal was to get to 15 or 16 under. I thought if I do that, then I might have a chance and I came up just short,” said Kapur, a winner on the Asian Tour.

“I’ve been up there on the leaderboard lately and had something to prove to myself. I wanted to carry the form for four rounds. Being on the leaderboard and not finishing the job has been disappointing but this week was nice."